Societies idolize what they don't have

4 December 2019

Societies idolize what they don’t have.

Let’s look at how this works in the United States.

Americans idolize health diets, food shows, and gourmet restaurants. Over 70% of adults are overweight and obese. Americans idolize entrepreneurs. But fewer Americans start businesses than before. Americans idolize celebrities, and themselves by ceaselessly chattering over social media. But we’re more lonely, anxious, and depressed, and isolated than before. Americans idolize (and its close sibling, envy) the rich. 78% of American workers live paycheck to paycheck. Most are also in debt.

To see what people in a country lack, look at what or who they look up to and take the opposite.